Mail-box indicator.



S. B. SARGENT.

MAIL BOX INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1910.

Patented'Aug. 12, 1913.

3 SEEETS'SHEET 1.

OLlDA I 1 COLUMBIA 'PLANOGRAPH 50.. WASHING S. B. SARGENT.

MAIL BOX INDICATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED D110. 6, 1910.

Patented Aug; 12, 1913.

a flunk-SHEET a.

S. B. SARGENT.

MAIL BOX INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED DBO. 6 1910 1,069,816. PatentedAug. 12, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

COLUMBIA PLANUGIIAPH cn., WASHINGTON n c FQTQE.

ann'r SUMNER B. SARGENT, OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OFTHREE- FOURTHS TO GRACE E. SARGENT, OF CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA.

MAIL-BOX INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 12,1913.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SUMNER B. Sanonn'r, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Charlotte, county of Mecklenburg, State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-BoxIndicators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to indicators such as are used on mailboxes for the indication of the different times during the day and nightthat collections are made from the box.

The mail box indicators which are in general use at present areconstituted by a single card upon which the different hours and theother indications are suitably imprinted, and this card is applied in anappropriate manner to the front face of the letter box. This form ofindicator is open to the serious objection that as the hours ofcollection are changed frequently the card has to be entirely replacedin order to set forth the desired information correctly; and this is amatter of considerable trouble and expense. The old cards have to beremoved from the boxes and the newly printed cards have to be installed,it being apparent, moreover, that in a large city in which thecollections differ considerably in number and time in differentsections, a very large number of different indicating cards must be,furnished.

The present invention aims to provide an improved mail box indicatorhaving removable and interchangeable indicating devices whereby theindication of any particular time can be changed as desired withoutaltering the other indications on the box.

The invention also aims to provide an indicator having indicatingdevices of improved form, and so mounted on the mail box as to preventthe damaging of the indicator or tampering therewith by unauthorizedpersons; and my indicator also has the substantial advantage that it canbe readily set or adjusted by an authorized person without the necessityof having access to the inside of the box, as is necessitated by thearrangement now in general use, wherein the card-holding frame has to becompletely removed from the box wall, in order to change the card, byloosening bolts from the box interior.

The novel features of the invention will appear clearly from thefollowing description and claims.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a front elevation of a mailbox provided with an indicator embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is afront elevation of the lower part of the box, showing the cover of thedevice swung down for access to the indicating members; Fig. 2 is a rearview of the improved indicator detached from the mail box; Fig. 3 is avertical transverse section on line 33 of Fig. 2% Fig. 1 is a detailperspective view partly in section of one of the series of carryingelements on which the indicating members are mounted; Fig. 5 is a crosssection through a carrying member; Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a modifiedform of indicating member or plate, Fig. 6 showing the meansforattaching the plate to the car rying element or support; Fig. 8 is adetail perspective View of another or modified form of indicating plate;Fig. 9 is a perspective View of a carrier upon which plates similar tothose shown in Fig. 8 are mounted; and Figs. 10, 11 and 12 illustratestill further modifications of the carrier or support and its indicatingplates.

Referring to the drawings, my improved indicator is denoted generally byreference character A, and it is shown as mounted on the front of anordinary mail box B in lieu of the customary printed indicating card.From Figs. 2 and 3 it will be seen that an attaching plate 15 is boltedto the front wall of the box by means of a bolt 16, and that the plate15 carries a pintle 17, upon which a cover 18 is mounted to swingpreferably in a vertical direction. The cover 18 incloses a plurality ofcarrying elements 19 upon which indicating members are arrangedpreferably in a vertical row, and said carrying elements or supports arehinged at their lower ends on the pintle 17 within the cover and extendfrom said pintle in parallel relation although the hinging of thecarriers is not an essential feature of the invention when consideredfrom its broader aspects.

At the upper part of the indicator, a cleat 20 is bolted to the boxwall, and it is provided at one end with a slotted flange 20? into whichthe sliding locking bolt 21 of a lock 21 applied to the upper part ofthe cover 18 interiorly thereof, is adapted to slide. The lock 21 can beoperated by means of a key which is insert-ed therein through a keyhole22 preferably formed in the outer face of the cover, as shown in Fig. 1although this precise arrangement is not essential. then the lock 21- isunlocked by an authorized employee of the Post Office Department thecover 18 can be swung down on the pintle 17 into the position shown inFig. 2, and in this way the several carrying elements 19 and theirindicating members are rendered accessible for adjustment. It will beunderstood of course, that the cover 18 is provided with inturnedflanges at the sides and top, as shown, so that when it is in its closedpo sition the carriers are not accessible at those points and bars orsolid portions of the cover when the latter is in locked position mayconceal and make inaccessible the ends of the indicating members. Thebottom of the device is partially protected by a flange 15 on the plate15, which flange 15 extends below the pintle 17 and into close proximityto the lower edge of the cover. The cover is movable on the pintle bymeans of bearings 23 at the ends and intermediate lugs 24. Theindicating members 25 carried by the respective supports or carriers arevisible through rows ofsight openings 26 in the front wall of the cover,which sight openings are alined with the respective carriers and areseparated from each other by parallel solid portions 27. The solidportions adjacent the sight openings overlie and preferably abut theside edge portions of the indicating devices 25.

In the form of the invention illustrated in detail in Figs. 2, 2, 3 and4, the carriers 19 are formed of cast metal blocks each having alongitudinal row of openings 19 in which the respective indicatingmembers, which in this case are constituted by small cast metal blocks,are set, said blocks being retained in position, when the coveris closedby the solid portions 27 of the cover wall, which overlie the edgeportions of the blocks, in which retaining rabbets 28 to receive saidsolid portions are formed, as shown in F 1. At their upper ends thecarriers or supports 19 are provided with flanges or lips 29, and oversaid lips lies a single slidable bar 80 which is retained in placebetween the cleat 20 and the front box wall, as shown in Fig. 3. The bar30 is slidable freely in a horizontal direction beneath the cleat, andby moving it lengthwise in one or the other direction, as indicated inFig. 2, the lip 29 of any desired carrier can be released so that suchcarrier can be swung forward on the pintle into a position wherein it isindividually accessible for removing the indicating blocks and puttingnew ones in place. This hinged arrangement of the carriers is not of somuch importance when the indicating blocks 25 are merely set freely inthe holes 19 of the carrier, as indicated at the right of Fig. 2 but itis highly advantageous where the individual indicating blocks areretained in place by pins 31 passed transversely through holes in thecarrier and in the blocks, as shown at the left of Fig. 2 Instead oflocking the indicating blocks in place separately and individually, asjust described, all of the blocks of one carrier may be locked inposition by means of a single retaining rod 32 passed through thecarrier longitudinally and engaging vertically directed holes 33 in therear portions of the blocks, as best shown in Fig. 5. l/Vith thisarrangement, the locking in place of an entire row of indicating blockscan be effected by placing the rod 32 in position in the carrier, asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and by simply pulling out the rod fromthe carrier all of the blocks mounted in the latter are renderedremovable.

The blocks the provided with indications corresponding to the differenthours of collection, for example, 5.10, 6.10 etc.; and there are also A.M. and P. M. blocks and Sunday and Holiday blocks for arrangei'nent inthe manner indicated in Fig. 1, or any other suitable arrangement madefeasible by the rows of individual indicating blocks on the respectivecarriers. Still other blocks are plain on their outer faces, and aresimply used as space blocks, as is also indicated in Fig. 1. The blocksare preferably made of cast aluminum, having rearwardly projecting lugs34 which engage the shouldered sockets 19 of the carriers the lugs andsockets being of such shape as will retain each indicating block inproper alinement and spacing independently of the others. In casting theblocks, the indicating characters may be cast in relief or otherwise, asdesired.

Instead of making the indicating blocks of cast metal, 1 may form themof sheet metal, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7. In these figures, 35indicates a sheet metal plate, the side edges of which are turned under,and which is provided at the ends with perforated lugs 36 adapted to bebent along the sides of a carrier 19 A cotter pin 37 passes through thebody of the carrier and the lugs of the indicating plate and locks saidplate in place on the carrier, as shown in Fig. 6.

F 8 illustrates a sheet metal indicating plate 38 having convergingdownturned side flanges 39 which form between them a dovetailed guideadapted to be slid over corresponding dovetailed ribs 40, of a carrieror support 19 as illustrated in Fig. 9. According to this modificationthe indicating plates are secured in position merely by sliding themlengthwise over the corresponding ribs of the carrier.

The carrier elements themselves may be made of sheet metal if such isdesired, and this construction is shown in Figs. 10 to 12. In Fig. 10,19 is a sheet metal carrier having a slitted end 41 bent to fit over thepintle removably, so that if desired the carrier may be easily detachedfrom the latter. Along the side margins the plate or carrier is providedwith small holes or slots l2 which serve to receive fastening devices 43(which may be the ordinary paper fasteners) serving to lock the flatsheet metal indicating plate in position on the carrier, there beingfasteners at both ends of each indicating plate said fasteners beingcovered and made inaccessible by the bars or transverse solid portions27 of the cover when the latter is locked in place. Figs. 11 and 12indicate a somewhat similar arrangement, in which, however, thefasteners are omitted. The indicating plates 45 are provided withterminal lugs L6 adapted to be bent around the edges of the carrier 19and to belocked in recesses 47 cut in the side edges of said carrier.

It will be understood readily from the foregoing description that theindicating members may be adjusted or replaced very easily by anauthorized person. It is simply necessary to unlock the lock 21 andthrow down the cover l8into the position shown in Fig. 2, after whichthe bar 30 is slid lengthwise until it releases the carrier of anyparticular column. When the carrier is released, it is an easy matter toswing the same forward and to change the indicating members thereof, asdesired.

Obviously I do not wish to limit myself to the particular constructionsshown in the drawings, as many others may be adapted without digressingfro-m my inventive idea.

hat I claim is 1. In a mail box indicator, the combination of separateand independently movable carrier elements adapted to be supported inhinged relation to the box wall, individually removable andinterchangeable indicating devices mounted on and extending transverselyacross each of said elements, and a cover adapted to be supported inhinged relation to the box wall and arranged to inclose and confine saidcarrier elements, said cover being provided with sight openings toregister with the indica tions of said indicating devices when the coveris closed, and the solid portions of the cover adjacent said sightopenings being arranged to abut and overlie the side edge portions ofsaid indicating devices.

2. In a mail box indicator, the combination of separate carrier elementsadapted to be located side by side against one wall of the box.indicating devices mounted in a row on each of said elements, means tosecure the respective end portions of said carrier elements in positionagainst the box Wall in such a manner that said elements are separatelymovable and accessible for the adjustment of the indicating devicesthereon, means to secure the indicating devices detachably on thecarrier elements, and a cover adapted to be hingedly supported by thebox wall and adapted, when closed, to inclose and confine said carrierelements, said cover having sight openings to register with theindications of the indicating devices, and also having solid portions toabut and overlie the side edge portions of said devices.

3. In a mail box indicator, the combina tion of a pintle adapted to beapplied to one wall of the box, separate carrier elements individuallyhinged to said pintle so that each may be swung against and away fromthe front of the box independently of each other, means at the free endsof said ele ments to hold them detachably against the box wall, aplurality of detachable indicating devices mounted on each carrierelement, and a cover hinged to said pintle and arranged to inclose andconfine all of said carrier elements, said cover having sight openingsto register with the indications of the indicating devices and alsohaving solid portions to abut and overlie the side edge portions of saiddevices.

4. In a mail box indicator, the combination with a pintle adapted to beapplied to the wall of the box, and a casing mounted to swing on saidpintle and having sight openings, of a plurality of carriers eachmounted at one end on the pintle within the casing, and adapted to liein the same plane against said wall of the box, and individuallyremovable indicating members mounted on each carrier and visible throughsaid sight openings in the casing.

5. In a mail box indicator, the combination with a pintle applied to thebox wall, a casing hinged to the pintle, indicator carrying elementshinged to the pintle within the casing, and locking means carried by thecasing at the side opposite the pintle and coacting with a fixed part ofthe box wall.

6. In a mail box indicator, the combination of a hinged casing adaptedto be applied to the box wall and carrying a look at its free edge, acleat adapted to be applied to the box wall to coact with said look, aslidable bar adapted to be retained between the cleat and the box wall,and a plurality of indicator carriers each of which fits at one endunder said bar.

7. In a mail box indicator, the combination of a pintle adapted to beapplied to the box wall, a casing or cover adapted to be supported inhinged relation to the box wall by means of said pintle said casingcarrying a look at its free edge, a cleat adapted to be applied to thebox Wall and coacting With said lock to lock the casing against saidWall, a slidable bar adapted to be retained between said cleat and saidWall, and a plural ity of indicator carriers hinged on said pintle andinclosed by said casing when the latter is locked to the Wall, the freeend of each carrier being detachably retained beneath said slidable bar.

8. In a mail box indicator, an indicator carrier, a pintle hingedlysupporting said carrier With respect to the box Wall, and individuallyremovable and interchangeable indicating devices mounted on saidcarrier, said carrier adapted to be freely removed from said pintle andreplaced thereon.

9. In a mail box indicator, an indicator carrier, a pintle hingedlysupporting said carrier With respect to the box Wall, and individuallyremovable and interchangeable indicating devices mounted on saidcarrier, said carrier adapted to be removed from and replaced on saidpintle Without removing the latter.

10. In a mail box indicator, a pintle, an indicator carrier mountedthereon, means to secure said pintle to the box Wall, a cover hingedlysupported by the box Wall and adapted to inclose said carier, locking 3means associated With said cover and box Wall, said cover adapted Whenclosed to render said pin-tle securing means and said locking meansinaccessible.

11. In a mail box indicator, a pintle, an

indicator carrier mounted thereon, means to secure said pintle to thebox Wall, said means being removable only from the interior of the box,a cover mounted on said pintle and adapted to inclose said carrier,locking the box, and said cover adapted When closed to render saidlocking means and both of said securing means inaccessible.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my slgnature,

in presence of tWo Witnesses.

SUMNER B. SARGENT.

Witnesses:

F. N. McCoUR'r, A. MURRAY BENSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D; C.

